Priority bills on tap as Senate session resumes Monday
The 24-member Senate resumes regular session tomorrow, focusing on priority measures for the 3rd Regular Session of the 17th Congress, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said yesterday
Sotto said ithe Upper Chamber is also expected to act on the bicameral conference committee report on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) or the ‘Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,’ which was approved last July 18.
He said senators would hold a caucus on Tuesday, a day after President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), to determine the “common priority legislative agenda” the Senate would tackle in the coming months.
Sotto pointed out that each senator had been asked to submit his or her list of priority bills for consideration of the whole body.
The senators would then compare their list of common priority measures to that of the House of Representatives and the executive branch, he explained.
Sotto said that for his part, his priority measures would include the proposed Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Medical Scholarship Act, the Presidential Anti-Drug Authority Act, and the Medical Scholarship Act of 2016.
The Senate Chief also said that during the caucus, senators would discuss the Consultative Committee’s draft federal constitution in order to “determine and gauge what would be the stand of the Senate” regarding proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution and to adopt a federal form of government
After the opening ceremonies at the Senate plenary hall tomorrow morning, the senators will proceed to the Batasang Pambansa Complex in the afternoon to attend the joint session of Congress and hear the president’s third SONA.
The Senate will go back to its legislative work in the third regular sesion while enjoying the highest public approval and trust ratings among key government agencies, according to a recent Pulse Asia poll.
The survey conducted last June said the Senate received a 69 percent approval rating and 61 percent trust rating by Filipinos throughout the country.